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<title>Learning in Games: Othello, Checkers, and Hearts</title>
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<h1>Learning in Games: Othello, Checkers, and Hearts</h1>

<p>Our interest in these games is mainly from the perspective of
machine learning and AI search.  That is, we try out different search
strategies, time management and learning approaches to see what works
best.  For this purpose, Paul Utgoff describes simple protocols,
implemented for all three games, that allow programs to play each
other on request, directly over an internet connection.  The protocols
are described in a <!WA0><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/tr-95-67.ps">technical
report.</a>  Source code implementing the protocols, as well as
basic player programs, is also available for <!WA1><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/">anonymous ftp.</a></p>

<p>If you are interested in machine learning for games, you may also
want to check out <!WA2><a
href="http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~jay/learn-game/index.html">Jay
Scott's page.</a></p>

<h2>Othello (or Reversi)</h2>

<p>Reversi, better known as Othello&trade; (a registered trademark of
Tsukuda Original, licensed by Anjar Co., &copy; 1973, 1990 by Pressman
Toy Corporation), is an ancient game where two players alternate turns
flipping two-colored disks on an 8 by 8 grid, according to certain <!WA3><a
href="http://web.cs.ualberta.ca/~brock/othguide/othellorules.html">rules;</a>
the player with the most disks on the board at the end of the game is
the winner.</p>

<p>There are a number of good sources of information on the WWW:</p>
<ul>
<li><!WA4><a
href="http://web.cs.ualberta.ca/~brock/othello.html">Brockington's
Guide to the Game of Othello,</a> where some of this information is
from.
<li><!WA5><a
href="http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Games/Board_Games/Othello/">Yahoo's</a>
links to Othello pages, servers, and so on.
</ul>

<p>To implement your own player, the simplest approach is to get the <!WA6><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/othello-2.15.tar.gz">source
code in C</a> for o-admin (the game administrator), o-listen (the
listening program to start a player remotely), and the basic player
program (that does random legal moves) and substitute your own
strategies.
See the <!WA7><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/tr-95-67.ps">technical
report</a> for further details on the protocol, the programs, and some
related issues.</p>

<p>A special administrator for ladder tournaments is in the works, as
well as a WWW interface to show games and play human players against
the programs.</p>

<h2>Checkers</h2>

<p>A similar protocol has now also been developed for <!WA8><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/checkers-2.2.tar.gz">checkers,</a>
described in the same <!WA9><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/tr-95-67.ps">technical
report.</a></p>

<h2>Hearts</h2>

<p>A third protocol has been developed for <!WA10><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/hearts-2.03.tar.gz">Hearts</a>--a
multiplayer card-game.  Details of the protocol and the implementation
are described in the same <!WA11><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/tr-95-67.ps">technical
report.</a></p>

<h2>Other Games</h2>

Some of the above games have variant rule sets (e.g., Russian
Checkers) that are not currently implemented in the protocols;  it
should be fairly simple to modify the code to implement other rule
sets, simply by changing the function that generates legal moves.  If
you do, please consider making the code available by sending mail to
<!WA12><a href="http://www-ml.cs.umass.edu/~utgoff/">Paul Utgoff</a> at <!WA13><a
href="mailto:utgoff@cs.umass.edu">utgoff@cs.umass.edu</a> such that
the code (and appropriate credit) can be included in the next release.</p>

<p>Similarly, using the internet communication and principles described
in the <!WA14><a
href="ftp://ftp.cs.umass.edu/pub/internet-games/tr-95-67.ps">technical
report,</a> other games can be implemented.
Please let us know should you decide to do so, such that we can
provide the appropriate links to the code on this page.</p>

<hr>

Last updated July 21 1995.
<address>
<!WA15><a href="http://www-ml.cs.umass.edu/~utgoff/">Paul Utgoff</a> -
<!WA16><a href="mailto:utgoff@cs.umass.edu">utgoff@cs.umass.edu</a>
</address>
URL: http://www.cs.umass.edu/~lrn/othello.html
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